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Anyone in the construction industry, regardless if they have been with the industry for decades or days, is witnessing the ever-growing need for new entrants into construction to sustain our ability to continue to build Ontario. The fact that we have a robust demand for proposed construction projects tabled for this coming year is excellent news. The only issue, which all contractors face, is “How are we going to satisfy this demand without people with the requisite skills to perform all of this work?”
The OGCA is very excited about the new collaboration that we have with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and their Specialized Trades Exploration Program (STEP) to ICI Construction Program. The STEP to ICI Construction Program allows students to gain hands-on experience in ICI construction while earning their high school diploma. This program has been developed to improve school-to-work transition for high-school students by providing them with the essential skills they need to prepare for future construction careers. This program is a link for employers and potential new youth to enter into construction.
Long-time Chair Elizabeth Witmer has retired from the WSIB after ten years as Chair and 36 years in public service. The Ontario Government has nominated Grant Walsh as Chair and Jeffery Lang as President and CEO. They are both current members of the WSIB Board of Directors, and we welcome them as they take on these important responsibilities to lead the WSIB forward. Elizabeth Witmer is a former Minister of Labour, Education and Health and served as Deputy Premier over her 22 years as a Member of Provincial Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo. In 2019, OGCA presented Elizabeth Witmer with our Doug Chalmers Award for leadership in health and safety. As Minister of Labour, she led the reform to establish the WSIB and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997. Then as Chair, she championed health and safety, including Safety Groups and Health and Safety Excellence Programs. Most significantly, she eliminated a $14 billion unfunded liability in 2019, many years ahead of the target. As a result, premiums rates were reduced, more than 50% for most construction firms. OGCA will be reaching out and thanking Elizabeth Witmer for her service and many achievements. You can find a full copy of the release, outlining the changes to WSIB leadership and the contributions of Elizabeth Witmer by clicking here. The Ontario government has launched Skilled Trades Ontario, a new Crown agency, to improve trades training and simplify services. The new agency will promote and market the trades, develop the latest training and curriculum standards, and provide a streamlined user-friendly experience for tradespeople. These changes will result in more workers for in-demand jobs and prepare Ontario for a strong economic comeback. Please click here to read the full press release. Please click here to read the article in the Daily Commercial News.
Industry News
Career seekers can have the ultimate toolbox to exploring skilled trade and technology pathways in their pocket! Through an aptitude quiz, quick links to partnered organizations, a calendar of fun events, and frequent scholarship and employment opportunity updates, users can see which career paths could be the right fit for them and will learn more about how to succeed in these fields through this app. Two of the first 100 users who download and make an account with a valid email address will win one of two prizes: we’re offering a Fire HD Tablet and an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset! The January 2022 Market Update affirms Ontario’s historic commitment to modernizing the province’s public assets, including hospitals, highways, public transit, children’s treatment centres, courthouses and correctional facilities. The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) is beginning to develop our three-year strategic plan for 2023-2025. In order to develop a plan that fully reflects the industry and our members, and where construction is headed in Canada, we are asking for a few minutes of your time to share your thoughts on CCA’s direction.
TTC is looking to create a construction site security plan for new projects and is looking for industry best practices and templates regarding standards for construction site security. The suggestions do not have to be TTC specific. If you have information you would like to share, please contact Michael Jones at TTC. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Andrew (Andy) Pilat, surrounded by his loving family, at University Hospital in London, Ontario January 19, 2022.
innovation Corner
ConstructR is a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform designed to automate and digitize daily operations of soil and material movements, as well as trucking management, within the construction industry. It offers a wide variety of features and functions to optimize the trucking and material supply chains, while providing clear visibility to management teams on their day-to-day operations. The system uses geofencing technology, UTM coordinates, and cellphone GPS data to automate the data collection and recording process of material and soil movements.
Canadian construction tech was well represented at the recent Association of Builders and Contractors (ABC) Annual Leadership Conference in Florida. The conference hosted 69 member chapters and over 375 Contractors. SMARTBUILD and myComply were two of the companies that have been selected into the Tech Alliance and are enjoying success in the US Market – but less success here at home.
The OGCA is excited to present "The Rise of the Aware and Predictive Job Site – Overview of Aon and Latium Job Site Insights Partnership" January 26, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The webinar will focus on using an IoT (internet of things) backbone to consolidate all the best risk-reducing and productivity-improving IoT categories under a unified data structure. The partnership brings together the loss data from the insurance sector (the most significant risks in construction) and the power of IoT to prevent and mitigate those top risks (and improve overall construction productivity). Aon believes that a community will form with this partnership to help all construction stakeholders determine which IoT device categories are ideal for their company and their projects. In this webinar, hosted by Jim Blair C.E.T., G.S.C., Chair of the OGCA Innovation Committee, you will learn about Job Site Insights (JSI) and how the insurance financial model will fund the cost of JSI and the various IoT categories. Finally, PCL will cover how they used JSI on their projects to mitigate risk. Panellists:
To register, please click here. This past week the LOC hosted its first webinar of 2022. This webinar was the first in our 2022 series all about safety culture. We would like to thank those of you who were able to join us and join in on the important and ever-growing conversation around safety culture. We hope that you were able to find the information presented helpful for your journey in strengthening your safety culture. If you missed the webinar or would like to access the information presented, please refer to this list of resources below: Our next webinar in this series will be taking place on February 16 @ 1 p.m. Click here to register.
Tune in January 28 for the premiere of a four-part podcast series hosted by the DCN! The first episode will be featuring Harold Reinders from Maple Reinders Group and talk about raising awareness for safety. 
Member News
Wade Ellis of GEN-PRO in Burlington has been featured in a Skills Ontario video about what he has learned over the years working at GEN-PRO. Skills Ontario is promoting the trades in a series of videos that OGCA will be posting in our newsletter. Please click here to view the video. Associate Partner News and Events
March 1 – April 30, 2022 is the “Open Period” for ICI collective agreements, and many non-ICI agreements, in Ontario. During this period, members of construction unions can apply to the Ontario Labour Relations Board to terminate a union’s bargaining rights with their employer, or – more commonly – a rival union can apply to the Board to displace an existing union, in what is commonly known as a “raid.” During the Open Period, employers will likely see increased union activity on sites as incumbent unions will seek to maintain member support, and as rival unions may try to gather support for a raid.
Legislative & Legal Updates
The latest issue of the Ontario Legislative Reports is now available on the OGCA website. Please click here to access the latest issue. The Ontario Legislative Report is updated every two weeks and explains the intention and status of legislation and regulations that could impact the construction industry. For issues prior to January 2021, please contact Mary Wademan at OGCA. Clarity in Contracts
In the most recent edition of the OGCA Members Newsletter, the association launched an exciting new section titled “Clarity in Contracts.” This section was a result of the members of the OGCA having tabled a considerable number of tender issues to the association and requesting assistance in removing, clarifying or qualifying onerous language from tender documents. The onerous, dictatorial and one-sided style of tender terms and provisions are only going to increase as the buyers of construction continue to attempt to download all responsibility onto our general contractors.
Education & Events
Please note confirmed dates for Canadian Concrete Expo 2022 are Wednesday, May 18 and Thursday, May 19, 2022 at the International Centre.
I’ve been through an experience that I’d like to share in the interest of mental health. Several months ago, I realised that I needed to do some purging in my apartment. I was feeling uncomfortable with papers placed on surfaces I was unable to use, had no room in my closet or drawers for new clothes, and a storage area filled with things I couldn’t begin to identify because they were buried under boxes of papers and other items.
Our collective goal is to create an industry culture that knows what to do if they see discrimination / harrassment on our jobs and workplaces. When: Feb 2, 2022 11 a.m. Eastern Time (US and Canada) I hope to "see" you there and please feel free to share with your colleagues! Be Brave. Be Curious. Be You. 
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ONTARIO GENERAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION
180 Attwell Drive, Suite 280 | Toronto, Ontario M9W 6A9 Tel 905-671-3969 |
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Skills Ontario is thrilled to announce that after months of research and development, they have officially launched their “Skills Ontario” app, available for Android and Apple devices. The app is fully bilingual.
In collaboration with the Canadian Construction Association and